St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-04-07
HOW A DAKOTA BANK PAID IT'S
DEPOSITORS.

ran across New York man the
other day who is largely interested in
the banking business of Dakota. The
of the character of the people out
there. "They may be rough in their
manners" said he, ''and uncOuth in
when he is in trouble and they never
forget friend. had an opportuni-
ty," he went on, Nto test this trait not
many years ago. The bank of the
town where | was staying found itself
greatly embarrassed one fine day by
the failure of its principal correspon-
dent in the territory. This fact be-
came known late in the afternoon of
the day that the news of the failure
reached the town. A run on the bank
the following morning was inevitable.
To meet it there was but 5000 in the
vaults. The remainder of the assets
could not Immediately be turned into
ready cash. The president of the bank
was at his wits end. He didn't know
what to do. Morning came and he de-
cided to close the bank. He was about
to gi We the necessary orders when in
walked Il committee of the leading
mOlCildtuto vi VITO pidCos L H0y dSkcu
for IN explanation of the situation. 1t
was & wen to them and likewise an OPP
portunty to look at the books. A
short examination sufficed to show that
the bank was only temporarily EN- bar-
raised. They said to the president,
"You open the doors at 10 O'Clock as
usual and pay the depOsitors we'll see
you through this thing "Bnt how are
va IN, H,.i Il
81 have but $1,000 here and there are
at least $4,000 in deposits to be met.
Half of that sum is clamoring on the
sidewalk now" "Never mind, you
open the bank and go ahead" said the
committee, "and we will see you
through"
"Well, the bank was opened and in
rushed the depOsitors and out went the
money. The pile of greenbacks on the
cashiers desk grew smaller and small
er and the crowd of depOsitOrs contin-
ued to increase with every minute
Still the paying ut the teller's window
went on. On the sidewalk the people
who had drawn their money were met
by some of the merchants who had
promised to see the bank through.
'Wliat are you going to do with your
money p they would ask. Il don't
know came the answer. Suppose you
leave it with us; you know our house
and know that we are responsible.
We will give you our note and SO much
interest," To the farmers flor the ma
.jOrity of depositOrs were farmers) the
money in their pockets where it drew
10 interest was of little value they
preferred, of course, the notes and
were without difficulty persuaded to
part with their money. AS soon as
they had received the money the mer-
chants would deposit it in the bank. |
The same money was paid over the
counter three times or Oftener in the |
course of the day, and when the bank !
closed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon it |
had in it's vaults as much money as it |
had started with in the morning, and
with $4,000 it had paid over $4,000 of
deposits. The prOmptness with which
it met the demands of the depositors
stayed the panic and the next morning
there was not the slightest Indication
of run. This is an absolutely true
story" said my informant in conclu
sion, "for was myself the president
of that bank. Now can you match
that by anything i'll the East r.
Prof. Raymond tells an anecdote to
show how impossible it was for Mr.
Beecher to long cherish a grudge.
''Once," said he, "a man behaved so
badly to Mr.. Beecher, that | cut him
dead. | was angry. For years we
did not speak. Imagine what | felt
one day to see Mr.. Beecher going down
the street with him arm in arm. well,
said | to the pastor, 'if you can't cher
sli your own grudges, how can | cher
sII them for youf He laughed and
odd me To drop it"